Locator for fish



Jan. 20, 1953 N. OATES 2,625,706

LOCATOR FOR FISH Original Filed Oct. 29, 1947 4'Sheets-Sheet 1 uvmvrox. NORFORD L. GATES by W m%* ATTORNEYS Jan. 20, 1953 o s 2,625,706

LOCATOR FOR FISH Original Filed Oct. 29, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TOR. NORFORD L OATES Q MM, wwmm ATTORNEYS Jan. 20, 1 953 N. L. oATEs 2,625,706

LOCATOR FOR FISH Original Filed Oct. 29, 1947 V 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN V EN TOR.

I A BY W 55 66 4 ATTORNEYS 9 NORFORD 1.. GATES Patented Jan. 20, 1953 LOCATOR FOR FISH Norford L. Oates, Seattle, Wash., assignor to Smith Cannery Machines Company, Seattle, Wash., a corporation of Washington Original application October 29, 1947, Serial No. 782,865. Divided and this application July 11, 1952, Serial No. 298,233

17 Claims. (01. 17- 4) rapid rate, but technological advances in canning machinery have entailed and permitted corresponding speeding up of the butchering operations, until presently a feed rate in the vicinity of 120 fish a minute is expected and required, and rates up to 150 fish a minute are readily attainable.

Yet accuracy in the beheading operation becomes increasingly necessary, as the tempo of feeding increases, and as the value ofthe canned fish increases. The severance of as little as of usable flesh with the head, in 800 fish represents a waste of 100 inches of the finest and largest cuts inthe fish, which, translated into money values and multiplied by the thousands of fish canned annually by each individual cannery, represents an annual loss to each cannery of thousands of dollars. On the other hand, the inclusion in the pack of any appreciable portion of the pectoral girdle, or of the gill or gill casing, all of which lie immediately ahead of the fleshy neck of the fish, downgrades the entire pack, and this too represents a loss to the cannery of thousands of dollars. The beheading cut must be made immediately behind the pectoral girdle, to include substantially none of the bony structure, and to utilize substantially all the good flesh;

Omitting for the moment consideration of the difliculties of attaining such extreme accuracy which arise from the increased tempo of operations, other difiiculties arise, and have always been present, from causes which, at slower speeds, were -nt'so difficult to cope with, but which at the greater speeds increase greatly the probability of malfunctioning. Obviously, the fish being processed in any given day's run will vary in size and weight, and sometimes in species, and no such machine, at any speed, can be varied to accommodate precisely each individual fish, but must be adjusted and set to handle the general daily average, and must adapt itself more or less accurately to individual fish. But fish vary alsoin condition; freshly caught fish will be firm of flesh and not unduly flexible, and their skin will cling closely to the flesh, whereas fish longer outer of water will be flabbier, softer, and the skin will tend to gather in folds when pinched,

and to pull the distant flesh into a curve. Frozen or heavily iced fish, regardless of their freshness, may tend to rigidity, and are difficult to direct and handle by the usual means. All fish are slippery and slimy, increasingly so with age, and fish once set in motion may slide farther than is desired, unless restrained; this slime, with loosened scales, penetrates all parts of a fish-dressing machine, and instead of facilitating movement may "freeze parts against relative movement. Paradoxically, slippery as they are, such fish once at rest upon a feed table surface seem glued thereto, and are most dificult to set again in motion, and the effort distorts their flesh.

Add now to further difficulties attendant upon increased speed, and the ideal of accuracy. is much more difllcult to attain. A slippery fifteen or twenty pound fish can acquire such momentum in a slight movement rapidly imparted, crimperfectly aimed, that it will tend to slide inithe wrong direction, or materially past its intended positioning. If soft, or if stuck to the table, it

may tend to bend or otherwise lie askew Ad justments which will compensate for the flabbi ness of the general run of fish will throw a firmer,

stiffer fish far out of correct position. An extremely rigid fish may. be thrown clear of the 'vancing fish accurately with respect to a beheading knife at a definitely located beheading point, by engagement of the fish behind its pectoral girdle as a gauge point, have been devised heretofore, and examples'thereof may be found'in my Patents Nos. 2,507,808, 2,507,809, 2,507,810 all issued May 16, 1950, and 2,546,346 issued May' 26, 1951, all of which were copending with the application Serial No. 782,865, filed October 29,1947, from which this application is divided. Each was'use'ful under conditions and feed rates then currently prevailing, and each includes principles still us'eful,.and herein employed, especially as pertains to location by engaging behind the pectoral girdle. Under present conditions and feed rates the principles and structure illustrated by the invention-herein shown, described, and claimed will be found much better suited to the desired ends than such earlier inventions.

Generally speaking, then, the object .of the presentinvention is to provide fish locating means for cooperation witha feed table and a beheading knife, which at high speed and under operating conditions always present but thereby aggravated, willnevertheless most reliably and-accurately locate the fish in a manner to avoid, in the highest practical degree, any economic waste of a valuable food product.

The present invention is particularly concerned with the relative arrangement ofand co- 5 operation between theseveral parts of the device, and one of its objects is so to arrange and effect cooperation between such parts, each largely old in principle, and to incorporate new elementsinto the combination to make such new combination, as experience has shown best fulfills the need for accuracy under high-speed operating conditions, and having in mind the several variableswhich' affect the fish themselves. I I, v 7

Somewhat more specific-ally, since the standard feed table, by belly-engaging lugs, advances individual fish from a feed end towards and past a rotative beheading knife, while the fish lie'flatwise upon the table, back forward, transversely of their direction of advance, and with their heads or snouts all towards that side of the-feed table where the rotative knife defines abeheading point'by its movement past the plane of the table and through the. position of each successive fish in timed relationship to the arrival at such point of each such fish, it is one of the primary: objects of this invention to insure (a) the arrival at'the beheading point' of each fish in accurate position, with its head, not too far advanced nor'lagging toofar, not drooping too much nor yet upstanding, and not too far snoutward nor toot fanta-il'ward, notwithstanding difierences in their size; spec'iesmr condition, and regardless of the speed of operation; (b) the restraint of fish themovement 'offwhic'h is i'diflicult to control undersuch conditions-so that in-adjusting their positionsthe'y will-notmove too far'nor-yet too slightly; "or-be otherwise distorted from proper position;"(c)the supplemental-or continuing restraintpf' such-fish-against displacement from 40 position during andfollowing'the beheading operat'on', notwithstanding its continued advance and the "severe displacing 'forces imposed by impactfofthe somewhat massive and-rapidly rotatingbeheading knifejwhile at the same time permitting some'departure'ofthefish from its engagement with the feedmeans, inorder to insure'the' best'severance of the head; and (d) the avoidance of sticking of a fish, by never permitting it to come to rest upon any surface.

Even more specifically, it is anobject to control snoutwa'rd' positioning movement of the advancing fishfas" it is shifted into correct registry with the beheading pointy'while likewise; and particularly subsequently toico'mpleticnsof such snoutward .movementjholding down the fish and'restraining its displa'c'ementbythe knife, by two separate but coordinated devices *which in turn are eoordinated' with the mechanism whereby the hen is "so shifted; advanced and beheaded:

With'frespect to eflective and accurate severanceof the fish's head, particularly at the throat arid along 'the'neck, it is an object so to shape and coordinate the movement of the knife relativeto'the path and rate of advance of the fish, thatfdistortion or displacement of the fish by confiicting"forces is avoided or when not wholly avoidable is turned to advantage, and the steady advanceof thefish-advancing means'is uninterru'pt'e'd, andfurther, so that severance at the soft throat is assured.

Many other objects will appear as this specification "progresses, and enumeration thereof at this'tim'e' appears superfluous.

invention concerns the novel arrange- 76 a beheading point. 5O

ment of the several parts of a feeder table for such use, and certain novel parts per se, all as shown in the drawings, as described herein, and as defined in the claims. The novel method herein disclosed forms the subject of the parent application; Serial No. 782,865.

Herein the invention is disclosed, by way of example, in a typical and presently preferred embodiment, but it will be understood that no limitation thereto is intended, nor any limitation other than as may be required by the claims in the light of this specification, of which the drawings are a part.

Figure l is a plan View, partly broken away, of a feed table incorporating the present invention,

and Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof on a larger-scale, also broken away in part.

Figure 3 is a cross section on the line 3--3 of Figure 1 through the feed table, looking towards thebeheading point-from the feed-end.

Figure 4 is an isometric view of an individual hoe and hold-down mount, in part broken away.

Figures 5, 6, '7, and 8 are successive diagrammatic views of the knife and its engagement with a fish, and of the instantaneous relationships of the fish to its fish-advancing means as affected by the engagement of the knife with the fish.

It may be helpful in advance of detailed description of the machine, to explain its general principle of operation. As in most of the devices of my patents identified above, individual fish are supported fiatwise upon a table, with their snouts all at the same side of the table, and upstanding lugs continuously traveling lengthwise of the table push the fish at proper spacing and in transverse disposition, along the table from the feed end 99 at the right in Figures 1 and 2 to the delivery end, with never a pause. Each fish has its back'forward and its belly rearward during such advance, the belly'being engaged by the lugs upstanding from feed chains just below the surface of the table. Duringtheir advance the individual fish pass a beheading point, where a knife, usually continuously rotatable in synchronism with the fish-advancing means, and properly contoured to out immediately behind and close to the pectoral girdle, passes through the plane of the table and the position of a fish, to define The advance of each fish is so'precisely timed, wit-h relation to the rotation of the knife, and the knife is so con toured, with relation to the fishs position at the instant of impact, that the-contoured knife-will sever-the fish's head from the body' along a line which is very close to the fishs pectoral girdle, and thisregardless of its size, providing only that the fish is disposedproperly in-the'direction of its own length,- that is,-transverse1y of the feed table.

In-order to accomplish this disposition, since it is notpossible at the required rate of feed to position it accurately by hand, were it safe to attempt manual positioning, which it is not, each fish is engaged by fish-locating means, one type whereof takes the form of a hoe-like fish-locating member, which rests upon and depresses its skin behind the pectoral girdle, and then, by movement toward its snout, without interruption of its advance along the table, engages the bony excrescence which defines or is part of the pectoral girdle, and thereby drags the fish forwardly or snoutward, until its pectoral girdle is precisely located in correct-registry with the beheading point.

In general, such results are capable of accomv plishment by certain of the'devices described in the copending applications. However, it has been discovered, for example, that flabby fish, or fish that do not slide as easily as others, or fish that are not exactly correctly'located-with relation to their feed lugs, or fish that stick because they have been permitted to' come to rest upon a supporting platform or the feed table, may tend to bow, or to pull, so that the fishs backbone is not straight, and thereby the head may lag, or in some instances may be projected forwardly of its correct position with relation to the body of the fish, sothat the knife does not correctly enter the fish, but includes some portion of the lower or the upper'part of the bony structure in the vicinity of the neck, and cuts oifmore of the flesh at the opposite side than is desirable. In another case',';if the fish happens to be stiff, it may be found that'the fish, in being moved, is given sufficient momentum as to cause it to move too far snoutward,-and 'there' have been instances when the fish, upon its engagement by the knife, 'has slippedaway from the knife,' "or has been flipped up by the knife, spoiling the accuracy of the cut and displacing the fish so that it does not come into proper position for further operation after beheading. To avoid each such difliculty, presser means are provided, and while presser means have been proposed heretofore in connection with such beheading means and feed means, the manner of cooperation of such presser means, with the hoe-like means, and with the feed means and beheading knife, are different in this application from such means as previously disclosed. In particular, the presser means herein have two functions, and not one only, namely, such means resist but do .notprev'ent snoutward shifting of the fish prior to beheading, thereby imposing a drag on the snoutwardshifting of the fish, and alsorestrain lifting .of the fish during beheading, as'w'ell as prior and subsequent thereto. The two functions may be satisfactorily .per-

formed, however, by a single element.

In particular, while the presser means and the fish-positioning hoe are both mounted upon a common mount, sothat they advance together,

cooperatively with and at the same rate as the lugs that engage and advance the fish, they are independently movable lengthwise the fish, with respect to that mount and with relation to one another, to the end that the presser means exerts a draguponthe fish while it is being dragged snoutward by the hoe, and retains it in any adjusted position, and also causes the skin' to be stretched more or less tightly, so that it'does not bunch up under the hoe. Thus it' functions to hold b'ack'thesnoutwardly moving ffish. :Also the presser means continues to hold downthe fish during and after the beheading operation, and

also prior thereto whereas the hoe, before the beheading operation begins, and before the fish has quite advanced tothe beheading point, begins to retract away from the beheading point, so that it is out of the path of the knife,-a nd .thus moves independently relative to the presser means, just before a ing action. Thus it functions-to hold down the fish upon the tableI It is convenient to combine these two functions in a single element.

After beheading, the presser device and the hoe are carried or guided backoverheadand inverted to the feed'endof the machine, and there are brought down, reinverted, and lowered prop erly into engagement with a succeeding fish, not

necessarily nor desirably the next succeeding fish,

"but one later in the path'of advance.

and at the time of the behead- The feed table 'dsupportsseveral paralleiifeed chains 90, provided with spaced lugs 91, by means of which individual fish, restingdirectly' upon the table, are fed without a pause le'ngthwise of the feed table from a feed end 99 which is at the right in Figures 1 and 2, toward the beheading point B in those figures, and thence continue *to a delivery point, which is at the left in Figures 1 and 2. The feed chains are supported upon two-part sprocket wheels (not shown) mounted in the feed table, the two parts whereof are relatively angularly adjustable as disclosed in Patent No. 2,507,810 for example, and are" driven in coordination'with other mechanism by the drive indicated bythe bevel gears 92 (see' Figure 2).

While in the larger sense the po'siti'oning of the'fish' according to this invention is' us'eful without regard to the specific character of the beheading knife, whether stationary, as in Patent No. 1,909,643 ofMay 16, 1933, to E. H. Waugh, or reciprocative, as in Waugh Patent No. 1,542,196 of June 16, 1925, or cylindrical and rotative, as in my Patent No. 2,507,810, or radial and rotative, as herein shown, the accuracyof the cut is best promoted, and the means to attain accuracy in the positioning of the fish are best utilized, in conjunction with a rotary knife. The use of a rotary knife, in conjunction with fish-advancing and fish-locating means herein disclosed, constitutes an important element in this invention.

A knife 8, properly contoured in radial axial section to follow the line of the pectoral girdle, and to cut back of it to remove the pectoral ens (see Figure l) is rotatable, preferably upon a skew axis near the level of the table top, as designated by theshaft 80, which through the drive typified by the bevel gears 81 and-82. is timed and coordinatedwith the other driving and driven devices. Because it is desirable that the knife have appreciable mass and momentum, in order that its rapidrotationbe not materially impeded by its passage through the fish, it is preferred that the knife be carried upon aflywheel '83. Its passage downward past the plane of the table defines the beheading point B. Because it is thus massive, it strikeseach fish a heavy blow, and each is thereby inducedby reaction to curl upwardly at'head and tail, with results hereinafter referred to. Contrary to the arrangement disclosed in certain of my patents, notably Patent No. 2,507,810, the fish does notrest upon a platform or any other element which itself is movable, with the fish, bodily transversely of the direction of the fish's advance, thereby to shift the fish or to drag it snoutward or tailward relative to the table. It has been found thatthe fish tends to stickto such a platform or support unless it continues to move thereover, and that distortions caused by imperfect positioning on such a support can not be corrected properly, Ins'tead,

each fish rests upon and moves always-relative to the surface of the table '9, along which it is advanced by the feed chains and a group of lugsfll, thegroups being spaced lengthwise of the feed table. While it is immaterial, broadly speaking. by what means, passive or positive, the snoutward shifting of the fish transversely of the feed table is accomplished, actually I propose to do this in the present device by positivelyacting mechanism which engages the fish from overhead, but again, contrary to my Patent No. 2,507,809, the engagement is by a hoe-like member which travels the full length of the feed table, and with vhich is associated a presser device, which likewise travels with the'fish lengthwise of assume the' 'fee'cl" table',but does not shift lengthwise the fish, and which serves to control its position and to'restrain its movement at all times, before, during, and if need be, after beheading.

Chains liL'whereby the presser means and the fish-locating means are advanced, are supported by sprocket wheels H and 11 in an overhead framework '1, supported upon brackets 91, these chains 16 being driven in synchronization with other driven parts, and in particular at the same speed as the feed chains 9, by drive mechanism indicated by the bevel gears 12. The upper and lower runs of these chains are preferably supported, against deflection, by tracks 18, 79.

Fast to the feed chains are brackets 6 and 69 (see, in particular, Figure 4) which are rigidly connected by a crossbar 6|, which constitutes a guide for a transversely slidable bar 62, and which supports a vertical guide 63 for a post 64 which isvertically disposed and slidable in all its operative positions. It will be understood that the guide 63 is not always vertically disposed, but it is so disposed except when it is rotating about the axis of the sprocket wheels 1| and I1, and hence can be distinguished and referred to as a vertical guide.

The transversely movable bar 62 carries, on the end which corresponds to the side of the feed table where the beheading point B is located, a vertical guide 65, in which moves a post I0 carrying at its lower end a. thin hoe-like fish-engaging member I. This hoe I has vertical movement, by reason of the post I9 moving upwardly and downwardly in the guide 65, and has also transverse movement by reason of the bar 62 sliding within the guide 6|. Cam means or the like, shortly to be described, control these movements through the respective cam followers II on the-post I0 and 660p the bar 62, acting through appropriate slots.

A pressure plate 2 of rather appreciable mass is carried at the lower end of the post 64, and thus has'vertical movement with respect to the transverse guide 6|. but has no transverse movement. The vertical movement of the hold-down plate 2 is not'cam-controlled, but gravity-controlled, throughout its operative path, and the pin 2|, proiecting from the post 64, and sliding in the slot 61, merely defines the upper and lower limits of movement of the hold-down plate 2. Thepresser plate, on its side which is lower when the plate is operative (that is. on the surface which engages the top side-of the fish) may be provided with ribs 22, which extend trans-' versely of the fish and'retard or hold back movement of the fish relative to the plate 2. Likewise the press/er plate is provided with rollers 23, by means of which it rolls more freely relative to supporting and reversing cams 21a and 21b,

to be described later.

- The spacing of the brackets 6. 60, and their connecting guides 6|. is identically the same as correct registry with the beheading point, after which, and before arrival at the beheading point, the hoe is withdrawn gradually upwardly and then. tailwardly, out of the path of the knife 8,

8. while the plate 2 continues. to rest upon and hold down the fish, during andafter the beheading operation.

A rib 98, parallel to the path of advance of the fish andof the hold-down plate 2, stands up from the table 9, and cooperates with the plate 2 in holding back the fish against excessive snoutward movement, and stretches its skin and fiesh on its lower side, as the plate 2 stretches the skin and fiesh on its upper side, while the fish is dragged snoutward by the hoe I. The drag of these two elements is often sufiicient to cause the fishs jaws-to open, as it approaches the beheading point.

To accomplish the movements of the traveling and shifting elements, the cam follower 66, which controls transverse movement of the hoe is engaged continuously with a cam trackin channel shape, represented generally by the numeral l5. Almost from the feed end, in the lower run of the chains 10, the cam track I5 is inclined, as indicated by the portion I5a, in such-manner as to advance the cam follower 66, and hence the hoe snoutward with relation to the fish. The fish, which has been placed approximately in correct position upon the pre-feed portion 99 of the feed table, and which is picked up by a set of feed lugs 9|, is thereby engaged at some point in the inclined portion |5a of the cam track by the hoe I, which rests upon it and depresses its skin and flesh, and the thus-engaged fish is dragged snoutward by the hoes engagement with the fishs submerged pectoral girdle, or similar bony excrescence, until such time as the straight portion |5b of the cam track is reached. At this time the hoe and the pectoral girdle of the fish have been shifted into precise linear registry with the knifes path at the beheading point B.

The straight portion |5b of the cam track terminates in advance of the fishs arrival at the beheading point, and the cam follower 66 now follows a steeply inclined reverse portion |5c, which withdraws the hoe tailward out of the path of the knife. Thereafter it follows the straight portion lid for the remainder of the lower run of the chains 10, and for all of the upper run until it arrives againat the feed end of the'feed table. it

The cam follower is free of restraint substantially from the time it reaches vertical position at the feed end 99 of the table, so that the hoe may drop downwardly and rest with all its weight, to whatever extent may be necessary to engage a "fish; whatever may be the size of the latter, which is being fed forward by the lugs 9|. After arrival of the hoe at the extreme snoutward'l'imit of'its' transverse movement, that is,

whenthe cam follower 66 has reached the "short,

straight portion |5b, there is no longer need for the hoe to rest upon the fish, but rather it is preferable that the hoe be lifted above the fish slightly in advance of the 'time that it is being retracted tailwardly. Accordingly an incline I6 (see Figure 2) supported from the overhead framework 1 is disposed in position to engage the cam follower II, which controls vertical movement of the hoel It is also shaped in plan to correspond to the shape of the cam track l5, and by this incline |6 the hoe is raised from fish-engaging position to an upraised position.

After the hoe has been' lifted clear of the fish,

it is retracted tailward by the cam track section I50. By the time the fish which it formerly engaged reaches the beheading point, the hoe I, by its lifting andretraction, is wholly clear of any fish that would be sent through the machine, as may be seen at the left center in Figure 2, and of any possibility of engagement by the knife, as may be seen at the left in Figure 1. The hoe may be carried thus upraised by a horizontal extension of the incline I6, as is indicated in part at 16a in Figure 2, or it can be permitted to drop downwardly after the beheading point has passed, and the latter is the arrangement shown.

The dragging of the fish snoutward by the hoe I engaged behind its pectoral girdle tends to wrinkle the skin and distort the body more or less, according to the fishs condition. The drag upon the fish which is afforded by the hold-back. plate 2 and rail 98 tends to minimize such wrinkling and distortion, and to control the positioning of the fish. By raising the hoe I from the fish after it has attained its position of correct alignment with the beheading point, but before .its arrival thereat, opportunity is afforded for relieving some of the strains and distortions produced by the positioning. The location of the hoe-raising cam It to become eifective while the hoes cam follower 66 is within the straight holding portion i5b of its cam track effects this purpose. In particular, it will be noted that the hoe is not dragged rearwardly over the fish, for in some fish this would disturb its attained position. The lifting of the hoe, while the fish is still short, lengthwise of the table, of the beheading point, affords time for relaxation of skin wrinkles or fiesh distortions,and improves the accuracy of the cut.

Inorder to maintain control over each presser plate 2 and hoe I as itis inverted in passing aboutthe sprocket wheels H and I1, cams are provided. About the left-hand sprocket 11 a curved cam I1 is shown, to insure raising the hoe i by the follower II as the entire mechanism is inverted in passing about this sprocket 11. At the opposite sprocket H, at the right in Figure 2 an extension of the cam I'I, designated Ila, slopes gradually downwardly, so that the hoe will not merely fall of its own weight, as it is again inverted, but will be let down gently until the hoe rests upon and engages a newly fed fish.

The presser plate 2 is also raised positively as it is inverted in passing over the left-hand sprocket wheel 11, and as it reinverts and passes about the right-hand sprocket wheel 1|. A cam 21a is positioned to engage the rollers 23 at the delivery end of the feed table, to effect gradual inversion of the presser plate 2, and a cam 21?) at the feed end of the feed table permits gradual vreinversion of the presser plate. A terminal section 210, hinged at 21d, hangs downwardly close to the surface of the table 9 or its initial portion 99, so that the presser plate 2 is supported until it is in its full lowered position, particularly if there is no fish in position for it to engage, but this hinged terminus 210 may swing upwardly as a fish passes beneath it, and still the presser plate is let down gently upon the fish.

It is believed the operation of the device will be reasonably clear. Fish are advanced to or along the initial portion 99 of the feed table singly by any suitable vmeans, and since the means to this end are no part of the present invention, none have been shown herein. Each fish advances lengthwise of the feed table by means of the lugs 9|, and it will be seen from Figure 1 that these .lugs are not necessarily nor ordinarily aligned transversely of the table, but are arranged and adjusted initially in a curved pattern which gen- 'wardly from between the gill covers.

comes down to rest upon the fish, and by its weight depresses the skin and flesh of the fish. Almost immediately, as the fish continues its advance, the hoe moves snoutward as the cam follower S6 enters the long incline 15a of its cam track. Eventually the hoe engages behind the pectoral girdle of the fish, and efiects snoutward shifting of the fish, uninterruptedly, until such time as its pectoral girdle is in correct linear alignment with the beheading point, as is the fish immediately to the right of the beheading point in Figure 1. The force exerted by the hoe is sufficient, applied to the pectoral girdle, to cause the fishs jaws to open, to a slight degree distortin the fish and its skin, but this distortion is somewhat relieved by lifting of the hoe from the fish before the fish reaches the beheading POint. To the extent that it may not be relieved, it urges the good fiesh tailward from between thegill covers, and both increases the usable nesh left on the fish and decreases the bony area. impact of the knife with fish also squeezes the flesh rear- Whatever the cause, or whichever cause predominates, the cheat is a slightly concave out within the head, though of course the knife follows a circular planar path, and such concavity can only result from some distortion and subsequent relaxation of the'nesh, as the knife passes therethrough. All this time the plate 2 has been resting upon the nsh and retarding, or to a degree resisting, its snoutward movement effected by the hoe, and it serves to restore the flesh and skin to its relaxed position, once the strains upon it are relieved by removal of the hoe.

To digress at this point, it may be noted that if the fish happens to be soft and flabby, the snoutward movement of the hoe might tend to gather the skin very appreciably in advance of it, and to mterpose too great a thickness of fiesh and skin between itself and the pectoral girdle, thereby displacing the fish too far snoutward. Such a condition would tend also to distort the nesh, perhaps to curl upwardly the tail of the fish, even to a sufficient extent to disturb its feed engagement with the lugs ill, and to cause it to lie askew on the feed table. The drag and pressure of the presser plate 2 and rail :18 tends to, and in most cases does, completely eliminate these sources of error. The drag on the skin materially lessens its wrinkling, and holds down the body and tail portion ofthe fish. The result is, the

hoe correctly engages behind the pectoral girdle,

notwithstanding th fiabbiness of the fish, and thereby locates the fish as accurately as it does a firm, fresh fish. Such a fresh fish, likely to be bodily displaced easily, is held firmly against undue displacement.

After the fish has been shifted snoutward into proper linear registry with the beheading point, and the hoe has been lifted and retracted tailward, and the fish advances slightly farther, the knife will pass through the same position that was occupied by the hoe, that is, immediately behind the pectoral girdle. In fact, a portion of the knife will extend tailward thereof, in order to cut out the pectoral fin, which is immediately to the rear of the throat. The still-advancing spheres fish, notwithstanding, continues to beheld down 'b'y'fthepresser plate 2, which resists the reaction of 'thebody to the shock of the beheadin knife, and which continues to act during and after the beheading operation.

Without this continuous pressure upon the body .of the fish it has been found in some instances, where the'fish is particularly rigid, that the fish will be dragged snoutward or sidewise by the action of the beheading knife, or by the impact of the knife with the fish the latter will even be flil 'ped up from th feed table, and may'cause a jam."At the very least the accuracy of the cut is destroyed, and at the worst a shut-down of the 'feed table and destruction of one or more fish is'a probability. With the continuous pressure of the presser plate, however, such accidents are eliminated, and the fish isjheld Steady untilit is "dliveredfr'om' the feed table for delivery to the fish-dressing machinepr'oper.

Heretofore it "has been considered preferable Isee my Patent No. 2,346,935 of April 18, 1944) to pierce the 'fish alongthe neck line of severance simultaneously with several points of the rotary beheading knife, the purpose of this being to define and 'establishthebeheading line while the 'fishwas' correctly positioned, andthereafter such displacement of the fish as might be caused by its feeding forward, or for reasons suggested "above, would not affect the line of beheading.

"Remembering that the feed rate has been materiallyincreased, it has' been found that the displacement of the fish by the lugs during the time required for the knife to'pass through the fish, which results from the greater feed rate, actuauybeeom s so great as to destroy the accuracy of the beheading cut, and consequently it is now necessary to devise other means for insuring the retention of the accuracyof the cut, which accuracy was attained by the mechanism heretofore described. In other words, it is futile to locate the fish accurately, and then, in the course of the beheading process, to destroy that accuracy. lihe eh qp t mu i el be as a rate as the locating of the fish was accurate preceding'jthebelieading operation. means for so doing is concerned with'the shape and arrangement' of the knife relative to its locus and the locus 'theffis'h, and is best illustrated in Figures '5' to ,8, inclusive. v H

The knife 8 and the feed lugs Stare so synchronized' their common drive that a point 85 of the'knife, being the {one which is radially inward of another points, first engages the fish F as it arrives at the beheading point, and its engagementis along a path which will carry it slightly; behind the backbone of the fish, represented atj rotation of the knife and advance of the fish F continue, a second point 86 pene- 'tratesthe fish, but the fishs advance is sum- 'ciently rapid, and the increasing curvature of the edge 88 is 'so nearly coincident with the locus .of'the advancing fish, adjacent the point 85 at least; thattlie edge 88 still lies just behind or hooked over the backbone f, By now, as seen in flFigured'severance of the head is well advanced.

'Now' as rotation of the knife continuesithe jth'roat portion of the edge 88'slopes somewhat "more steeply than issufiicient to coincide with the advance of the fish, but the backfone i, being very tough and stron at this point where it joins the head, by its resistance to severance causes the fish to bepulled forwardlyahead of the feeding sues is shownin-Figure 7, so'that bythe time the severance ofthehead is completed, orne'arly st,

and during the time that accuracy "of location is most essential, the fish has beendrawn forward slightly; so that the advance of the lugs cannot disturb its position, and" only now, as the feed lug 9i begins to catch up again with the fish, is final severance completed, as shown in Figure 8, when the bottom of the curvature of the edge88 finally forces its wayt'hro-ugh thebackbone At about this time the edge 81 hooks down outside the throat tendons, where the fish's head joins the body immediately below the gills, and notwithstanding broadening ofthe fish caused" by the squeezing to which it is subjected, insures severance of this usually troublesome portion of the head, for the tendons cannot escape from the outside hooked portion of the knife.

Thus, by the use of this style of knife in'such a fish-dressin'gmachine, it will be seen that the knife engages the fish by-successive penetration a-t-at least two points; that the innermost of these points hooks over the backbone and eventually jumps the fish ahead of the feed lugs to a slight degree, somewhat exaggerated in Figure 7, and thereby insures severance of the head with the least disturbance of its accuracy of position. It will be seen also that the severance of the tendons at the throat is assured, all to the end that the head is certainly and accurately severed from the body without interruption of the fishs ad- Vance, and during the single rapid passage of the beheading knife past the beheading point.

Iclaim as my invention:

1. For usewith a feed table along which individual fish are advanced lengthwise along a definite path, while each is disposed transversely of such path and each with its head at one side thereof, at definitely spaced intervals relative to preceding and following fish, to and pasta precisely located-beheading'point within the general locus of the heads of the advancing fish, means to locate and control each fish during such advance and beheading, which means comprises a plurality ofindividual presser means, means nism operatively connected to the presser means,

to advance them synchronously with the fish,

and while each is in contact with its individual fish, from a point ahead of the beheading point until each such fish-has passed the beheading point; and fish-locating means operatively engageable with each advancing fish, including an "element inclined with relation to the direction of advance, and located ahead of the beheading 1 point, to shift each fish in the direction of its length, unless or until such fish lies in correct registry with the beheading point.

2. The combination of claim 1, including a plurality of individual fish-locating means, one

corresponding to each presser means, each engageable with a fish which is also engaged by the; corresponding presser means, means supporting each such fish-locating means for ad- ;vance along the path of advance of the fish, means operatively connecting said latter supporting means with the drive mechanism to advance the'several fish-locating means in correspondence with the corresponding presser means and wherein the inclined element constitutes i'fix'edly I positioned" guide means operatively engageable with the individual fish-locat- 13 beheading point, to shift the same and the fish engaged thereby snoutwardly into correct re istry with the beheading point.

3. For use with a feed table along which successive individual fish are advanced, while each is disposed transversely and all with their heads at one side, at definitely spaced intervals along a definite path from a feed end to and beyond a precisely located beheading point which lies within the general locus of the heads of the advancing fish, to arrive at the beheading point coincidentally with the arrival there of 'a be heading knife, means to locate and control each fish during such advance and beheading, which means comprises a plurality of individual supports, drive mechanism, means supporting, guiding, and operatively connecting said supports to the drive mechanism for advance of successive supports in correspondence with the advance of a corresponding individual fish, a presser means carried by each support, and positioned thereby to rest upon the corresponding fish during its advance, a fish-locating means also carried by each support, and positioned thereby to engage the corresponding fish during its advance, guide means operatively connected to the presser means and to the fish-locating means, respectively, to constrain movement of the presser means, until the fish has passed the beheading point, to a path generally parallel to the path of advance of the fish, and to shift the fish-locating means-"and the fish engaged thereby, in advance of their arrival at the beheading point, in the direction of the length of the fish, until the fish is located in correct registry with the beheading point.

4. The combination of claim 3, said guide means including further elements positioned for operative engagement with the several fish-locating means after the fish has been correctly registered with the beheading point and before it has reached that point, said further elements being shaped to withdraw the still-advancing fishlocating means from engagement with the fish before the fish reaches the beheading point.

5. The combination of claim 3, said guide means including further elements positioned for operative engagement with the several fish-locating means after the fish has been correctly registered with the beheading point and before it has reached that point, said further elements being shaped to first lift the fish-locating means from the fish and then to withdraw the same lengthwise of the fish.

6. The combination of claim 3, wherein the guide means are shaped to position and to effect shifting of the fish-locating means snoutwardly behind the fishs pectoral girdle into correct registry, and said guide means include further elements for operative engagement with the stilladvancing fish-locating means after such movement into registry and before arrival at the beheading point, to lift the same from the fish and thereafter to shift the same tailwardly relative to the fish, to clear the way for movement of the beheading knife through the position formerly occupied by the fish-locating means, upon arrival of the fish at the beheading point.

7. For use with a feed table along which successive individual fish are advanced, while each is disposed transversely and all with their heads at one side, and at definitely spaced intervals along a path directed generally lengthwise of the table from a feed end to and beyond a definitely located beheading point which lies within the general locus of the heads, means to locate and control the fish during such advance and beheading, which means comprises a plurality of individual supports, an endless feed chain and sprocket wheels for said feed chain, located above and with the feed chain directed in general parallelism with the path of advance, said individual supports being mounted on said feed chain at intervals corresponding to the spacing between successive fish, drive mechanism operatively connected to said feed chain to advance each support adjacent to and at the same rate as the corresponding fish, a presser plate corresponding to each support, guide means mounting each presser plate in its support for move ment of the plate downwardly to rest upon a fish, as the plate advances with the support, a hoe corresponding to each support, guide means mounting each hoe in its support for movement of the hoe downwardly to rest upon a fish, behind its pectoral girdle, and also lengthwise of such fish, as the hoe advances with the support, and cam means disposed in the path of each hoe, and operatively engageable therewith to shift the hoe snoutwardly as the fish approaches the beheading point, until the fish is located in correct registry with the beheading point, and then to withdraw the hoe before the fish reaches the beheading point.

8. The combination of claim '7, wherein the cam means includes an element to shift the hoe snoutwardly and then tailwardly, both located for operative engagement with the hoe in advance of the fishs arrival at the beheading point, and a further element to lift the hoe from the fish, located for operative engagement with the hoe intermediate its snoutward and its tailward movements, respectively.

9. The combination of claim 3, wherein the means which support, guide, and operatively connect the individual supports to the drive mechanism includes an endless chain and sprocket wheels mounting, guiding and driving said chain, one at the feed end of the table and one at the opposite end, the individual supports being mounted upon said chain at spaced intervals, and wherein the guide means which'are operatively connected to the presser means and to the fish-locating means includes a cam track extending about the sprocket wheel at the free end, andcam follower means operatively interconnecting said cam track and each presser and fish-locating means, supported by a common support, to lower said support-carried elements gradually upon a fish which is being advanced by the corresponding fish-advancing means.

10. The combination of claim '7, including additional cam means extending about that sprocket wheel which is located at the feed end of the table, the hoe having a cam follower operatively engageable with said further cam means as the hoe passes about said sprocket wheel, and said further cam means being shaped to lower the hoe, when so engaged, gradually upon a fish which is being advanced by the corresponding fish-advancing means.

11. The combination of claim 7, including additional cam means extending about that sprocket wheel which is located at the feed end of the table, the presser plate having a cam follower operatively engageable with said further cam means as the presser plate passes about said sprocket wheel, said further cam means being shaped to lower the presser plate gradually he na-fish which is b neza v n dby: hew

responding fish-advancing means.

1 12 The combination of claim 11, wherein the further cam means includes a hingedly mounted terminus disposed in ,the pathof, and m clined, relative, to the --direc tion of the fishes advance, to beraised by-each fish that passes beneath it.

, 13;,,F'or use with a feedtable along which successive individual;fishare advanced, whilethe latter are disposed transversely and all with their heads at one side, lengthwise of the table along a definite path and at definite intervals from a feed end to and beyond a definitely located beheading point which lies within the general locus ofrthefishesphea ds, means to control each fish during such advance and beheading, which means comprises a plurality of individual presser means one corresponding to each. fish thus advanced, means supporting each presser means and advancing the same in position to rest continuously upon the body portion of the'correspending advancing fish, from a point in ad- :vance of the beheading point to a point beyond the same, and guide means operatively connected to each such presser means, during its advance, to maintain it in a path generally parallel to the engaged fishs direction of advance.

14. For use with a feed table along which individual fish, while disposed transversely and all with their heads atone side, are advanced at spaced intervals from a feed end to and beyond a precisely located beheading point within the general locus of the head of each advancing fish, means to locate and control each fish during such advance and beheading,- comprising a plurality of presser means, a support for each thereof, means to guide each support and its presser means for conjoint advance to and neyond the beheading point in synchronism with the advance of, and with the pressure means resting in operative position upon, its individual fish, drivemeans, operatively connected with said support so to advance it, said guide means being shaped to constrain movement of the presser means to susbtantial parallelism with the direction of the fishes advance, a like number of fish-locating means each also operatively connected to and movable with a corresponding support, and positioned thereby to engage a corresponding fish as it advances, and means operatively engageable with each, fish-locating means, during its advance, to shift each thereof 16 and t afi h-cn ag q ther y ei eslir eti of the fishs length; until such fish lies in correct registry with th beheading point, in advance of reaching that. point.

15. For use with a feed table alongwhich individual fish, while disposed transversely andall with their heads at one side, are advanced along a straight path at spaced intervals from a feed end to and past aprecisely located beheading point within the generallocus of the head of each advancing fish, means to locate andcontrol each fish during such advance and beheading, comprising a plurality of supports, arranged at spaced intervals corresponding each toan ad- .vancing fish, means supporting andguiding each support -for movement above the path of the fish, drive means operatively connected to the supports so; to advance them, each in correspondence with an advancing fish, along apath parallel to the path of the fishes advance, a pluarlity of fish-engaging and locating hoes, one to each support, means supporting andguiding each hoe from and for advance with but for movement relative to its support, control means operatively engageable with successive hoes. in advance of arrival at the beheading point to shift each, and the fish engaged thereby, lengthwise of the fish to locate each; fish in correct registry with the beheading point, a plurality of presser plates, one to each support, and means supportingand guiding presser plates from its support for rising and falling, but constraining it to advance with its support only along a path parallel to the path of advance of the fish.

16. The combination of claim 15, including further means positioned in the path of and :for operative engagement with each hoe as it advances towards the beheading-point, to withdraw the hoe from engagement with its fish prior to the fishs arrival at the beheading point.

1'7. The combination of claim 14, including additionally further means engageable with each fish-locating means, during its advance between the point where the fishhas come into registry with the beheading point and the beheading point, to withdraw the fish-locating means from engagement with the fish, thereby leaving the fish engaged only by its presser means dur- No references cited. 

